


More Than You Know

by Knoppe



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-12
Updated: 2014-06-04
Packaged: 2017-12-14 17:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/839531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Knoppe/pseuds/Knoppe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jake moves in to a new place as a kid, with his unknowing of how to be social getting in his way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The trees passed by too quickly for Jake to see each one. He was looking out of the backseat because grandma didn’t let him into the front seat yet. That, and the front seat contained a large dresser with many other belongings tied to it. Jake sat amidst a kingdom of boxes and furniture in the back of the car. When he looked up, he saw red ropes going out of the partially opened windows to strap down furniture onto the roof of the small navy blue vehicle. He felt tiny in the middle of towers of boxes, and he was surprised that he couldn’t even see Grandma Harley in the front seat.  


“Gamma, where are we going?” Jake asked, partially to see if she was still there.  


“We’re going to our new house Jake,” she said, somewhat irritated. Jake knew that, he had asked it about fifty times when they were loading the car.  


“No Gamma, **where?** ” he asked again.  


Her hand pushed a few boxes aside so there was just enough space to see her face and she winked at him, “You’ll have to find out, won’t you?”  


This got Jake excited. He fidgeted in his small area and accidentally bumped a pillar of luggage. Down came a small box on top that landed at his feet. Jake reached down to get it, but his four-year-old arms just weren’t long enough with this seatbelt restricting him. Quietly, so Grandma wouldn’t see him, he unbuckled his seat belt and slid down into the foot area. He picked up the box and put it on his seat. It was small and cardboard, like most of the boxes. Jake couldn’t read well yet, but he knew that the letters on the box spelled out “Jade” and he shoved the box aside. He wasn’t supposed to look at that stuff.  


He climbed back into his seat and put his seat belt back on. He had just gotten out of his car seat, and he felt like a big boy with the seat belt. But the click alerted Grandma, and she looked at him through the crack again.  


“Jake did you get out of your seat?” she asked sternly  


“No Gamma” he lied. But he wasn’t good at it. Grandma looked again and saw the box beside him.  


“Were you looking at my stuff?” she said with the force that only she could use.  


“No Gamma!” he said, at least that was true.  


“Jake…” she said narrowing her eyes.  


“I didn’t!” Jake piped. “It just fell down and I picked it up!” truth again.  


Her eyes stayed narrowed and lingered on him again. Then they brightened again and she smiled. “Good boy,” was all she said as she turned to look at the road again.  
Jake picked up his toys and started playing. There were only two, but he loved them. One was a very soft plush dinosaur that was drooping in his arms and looked like it was going to tear from too much use. Jake called it “Lieutenant” because he once heard Grandma call someone that back at their old house. He called it “Looey” though, because the other word was too hard to say. The other was a big green bouncy ball that Grandma Harley had won him when he was three. He wanted Looey to have a friend so he drew a face on it, which was really two big black eyes and a spiky mouth. Jake loved both of these toys to death, and they were almost inseparable. He played with them for a while, with Grandma chuckling occasionally when she heard him narrate, and then Jake got tired, and fell asleep, using the box as a pillow.  
When he woke up, he was startled at the harsh orange sunlight glaring in through the window where it was filled with tall green trees and blue sky what seemed like moments before. Grandma Harley was untying some of the red ropes that strapped things to the roof, leaning in the window.  


“Gamma, where are we?” Jake asked.  


She smiled, her age lines barely showing. “Why, we’re at our new home,”  


This got Jake’s attention. He bounced up, leaving all parts of his slumber behind him on the box. He tried to stand on his seat, but his seat belt held him back, causing him to fall back down. He quickly unbuckled it and stood, leaning out of the now open window to look at this new place.  


He found several buildings, and he didn’t know which one it was that was his. “Gamma, which one is it?” he asked. He wanted to explore this place right away.  


She laughed and pointed to one where there was already a pile of boxes on the walkway. “That one Jake, but you have to help me unpack first before you can look at it.”  


“Aw, but Gamma…” Jake said, but he dutifully opened the door and jumped out, knocking his already-loose glasses from his face and onto the nice concrete sidewalk. He froze in place, waiting for Grandma to pick them up for him. She did, and smiled as she put them back on. He looked at her face. She was in her late forties, but it didn’t look like it. She didn’t try to hide her age lines, but they barely showed up anyway. Her long black hair matched her round glasses on her tan face. She was very fit, muscular in some areas. Jake gave her a very wide smile back.  


After taking out the very few boxes from the trunk that he could actually lift, he looked at Grandma expectantly. She sighed and said “Go on, Jake, I already unlocked it.”  


Overjoyed, Jake ran over to the walk in front of the brown house. As he did so, a large truck that held all the other furniture pulled up. Jake stood indecisive on the walk, choosing whether to explore the house or the truck. He nodded decisively, and continued down the walk, his arms and legs stiff. The truck would have to wait.  
He strode up the porch stairs, stumbling on the last one, and stood in front of the dark green door with a gold lion on it, holding a ring in its mouth. This looked like a great place to explore. He pushed the door open and entered the maw of the house.  


He gasped. It was much bigger than their old, gray house with just one floor. The first thing he saw at the door was the stairs. The door to his left led to a large room with glass instead of walls and a ceiling. The long dirty white tables were empty, though, so the room held no distractions for him. He walked back into the main entry and continued forward into the living room. He could tell because Grandma’s large red chair that he wasn’t allowed to sit in was there, and it was in their living room back home, er, their old home.  


He moved on to another empty room and a closet under the stairs, when he got into the large kitchen. It had a large tile island in the middle surrounded by more marble counters with an oven and sink. The old kitchen was just a table and oven, so Jake was really excited. There was also a door that led to the backyard, but when he tried to open it, it was locked. He looked around, seeing he looked through the entire first floor. Time to venture up those stairs.  


He ran back to the front of the house when two big men carrying a couch came through the front door. Jake turned to face away from them, his hands behind his back. He wasn’t very good with strangers. As soon as they passed him he bolted up the steps and gasped some more. There were closed doors all around him. He had to look in them all. He also looked for pieces of paper. Grandma said that she would tape them to his room door and hers, as well as another room. He found Grandma Harley’s room to his immediate left, and when he opened it, it was just a blank white room. Nothing of interest in here. The door that was straight across from the stairs had a different knob than all of the others, it was bronze and oval, instead of the round glass like all the others. He decided it was special, and would check that one out last. The next door he came to had a large NO written on the paper. That was the room that Grandma has forbidden Jake to go into. There was one in their old house too.  


He found a bathroom and another empty room when he realized that those were all the rooms. And he still hadn’t found the door with his name on it. He worried that he didn’t have a room, when he remembered the oval knob door. He ran to it and opened it, gasping again. There was another set of stairs. He ran up the narrower set to find an enormous room at the top. Written on a paper on one of the walls was JAKE. This was his room. This was all his room. The only things in it, though, were a big window on the other side and a bookshelf. He stared in awe at his room, even though it was empty.  


There was a creaking on the stairs and Grandma was lugging a box up, huffing. “So do you like it?” she asked. He turned and looked to her, his mouth open in awe and she laughed, “I guess so. Did you see your bookshelf?”  


Jake shook his head and ran over to it. It was brown and huge, much bigger than his small white one at the old house. There was already a book in it though, one he didn’t recognize.  


“Can you read the side, Jake?” Grandma asked. Jake turned his head sideways, but the two long sets of letters eluded him. He shook his head.  


“It says ‘Treasure Island,’” she said.  


That got Jake’s attention. He loved treasure. Or, he loved hearing stories of people finding it. He reached for the book and tried to pull it out, but it stuck on something. He let go when he heard a click, and Grandma pulled him back as the shelf disappeared. In its place was a plain white bathroom with a sink, toilet, and shower.  


And Jake loved it. Right away he ran into there with his arms outstretched, saying, “Woooooowwwwww” over and over and over again until he sat down on the toilet from running too much. As he panted, he noticed Grandma Harley was still in the doorframe, grinning at his excitement. He smiled hugely at her, and then got up and ran some more around the bathroom, stopping only once to hug Grandma.  


That day went rather quickly for Jake. After he tired of running around his new room, he went back outside to explore some more. He saw the moving truck, and discovered quickly there wasn’t much to explore. In the back, while it was large, there was no room to walk. The stuff in his old house had filled it up, and since he had seen all of it already, he didn’t see a point in looking at all of it. However, when he crossed back to the front of the big truck, a little disappointed, a man got out of the front.  


He was a big man; in fact, Jake was surprised that he could fit through the door. He was very tall, with a large middle. Not obese, just larger than the rest of him. His stomach dominated Jake’s view, so he could barely see the top of the man’s head. Jake stepped back a little, partly because he had never seen a bigger person and was somewhat afraid, although he would never admit to that, and partly so he could see his face.  


The man bent over to get a closer look at Jake, and he ruffled his hair, which Jake didn’t like. He probably didn’t like it because 1) this man was a complete stranger. Jake didn’t like strangers. And 2) the man was strong enough that when he ruffled his hair with a hand bigger than Jake’s head, Jake’s head moved with it.  


“Hey there, young man.” The man said. Jake just stared up at him, wide eyed, which made the man laugh. “You must be Jake, eh? Your grandmother told me all about you.” Jake just continued staring at the giant, and nodded slightly.  


The man kept talking “ I’m Jeff, by the way. I’m an old friend of your grandma’s. Yeah, I always meant to join your grandma up there but this thing,” He clutched his belly, “always kept me from going there. I could never lose this no matter how hard I tried. I own my own little moving company. Did this for free, your grandma always was a sweetheart to me.” Jeff ruffled Jake’s hair again, softer though, Jake thought he must’ve noticed how Jakes head wobbled the last time. This time only Jake’s hair moved. Jeff laughed again, a hearty, young laugh that seemed to cheer everybody up. Jake had warmed up to him a little and looked at him, actually noticing things. Jeff had striking blonde hair, cut short, and a young face. He looked like he was in his twenties. He was somewhat tan, but obviously not athletic, even though his arms would disagree.  


“Well, I just gotta talk to your G-ma, I’ll see you later,” Jeff said as he took out a ball cap from his seat, closed the door to the moving van, and walked back to Jake’s new house.  
Jake smiled. He liked Jeff. He was nice, although he found the hair ruffling to be a little annoying. He made Jake feel a little happier. He was surprised that a perfect stranger could make Jake feel happier than he was.  


Jake walked back down his new concrete walkway. He jumped over little cracks that the test of time had put into it, pretending they were giant rivers that he could cross with little effort. Jake did have a vivid imagination, and he used it at the most random of times.  


He walked back upstairs to the second floor. He did a circle, still in awe that he could go to all of these rooms (well, all but one) and say that he lived in the house they were in. Those rooms were his for all he cared. He sat down in the middle of the hardwood floor, thinking that this was probably how big a castle was. The castles in the books Grandma red to him all said that they had many rooms. He figured this was how many.  


Then he heard Jeff’s laugh again, and Jake got up quickly to hear. Grandma’s laugh accompanied it, as well as sounds of footsteps underneath him. As he heard the door open, he rushed to the top of the stairs, looking down to see Grandma and Jeff having what Jake thought was a very pleasant conversation.  


“Well I’d best be going, I have a few more houses to visit. Then I’m moving someone to Ohio. I’ll be back home in about a week,” Jeff said.  


“Anytime you’re home, dear, you are welcome to come here,” Grandma said. Jake had never heard her call anyone else dear except for him. He thought that was something reserved just for him, and was a little offended that Grandma used it so lightly.  


“Thanks, Ms. Harley.” Jeff said. “You really spoil me. I’ll do that. I want to see the little tyke again. Especially once the excitement of a new place ends. You really are lucky. Bye now.” Jeff turned to leave, but saw Jake out of the corner of his eye. He smiled at him and said, “G’day Jake,” as he raised his hand in farewell.  


Jake ran down the stairs, loudly as Jeff turned around. Jake ran up to him and wrapped his arms around his leg. “Bye, Jeff,” Jake said, squeezing tightly. Jeff ruffled his hair, and Jake ran back to the top of the stairs. Jeff left, ducking the doorframe so he just avoided hitting his head against it. Jake turned around and opened the door with the special knob and ran up the stairs to his very special room. He found that his bed, dresser, and bedside table with his dinosaur lamp set up in a corner of his room.  


Grandma shouted from below, “Jake, bedtime!”  


Jake ran towards his dresser and pulled out his pajamas, and ran over to the bookshelf. He just barely reached Treasure Island on the third shelf, and he managed to pull it to reveal his bathroom. He turned on the lights and saw a button next to the light switch. He pressed it. He gasped as the bookshelf pulled closed on the bathroom again. Good. Jake didn’t like undressing in the open.  


Once he had changed into his pajamas and brushed his teeth, he went to the doorway to see a big great slab of wood. He didn’t know how to reopen the bookshelf.  


“Gamma!” he shouted. “GAMMA!”  


“What? What?” he heard her say, muffled by the shelf.  


“How do I get out?” he screamed.  


He could hear her sigh; relieved it wasn’t anything more serious. “Press the button again, dear.” She called.  


He did, and it slid open. He saw Grandma and ran straight to her, hugging her leg. She put her hand on his head and said, “All ok, see?” she said softly. He nodded into her leg.  


“Let’s get you into bed, ok?” She said. Jake backed away and nodded. He ran to his bed, and bounced a little as he got into his covers.  


“Oh, I almost forgot,” Grandma Harley said. “Here,” she took out Lieutenant and his green ball, and squealed. She placed them on his bedside table. She turned off the lamp and said, “Goodnight Jake,” as she kissed his forehead. “Just wait till you see tomorrow.”  


“There’s more?” Jake asked, incredulous at the fact that there could be more.  


Grandma chuckled, “More than you can think.”


	2. What could happen?

Jake woke up quickly. He was scared, he didn’t know where he was, and there was light shining in his eyes. He started to get up when his head hit the footrest of his bed. Pain grew on his skull as he retracted, holding his head, trying hard not to make noise just in case Grandma was still sleeping. He let go a small scream, although he kept it soft. When he had recovered as much as he could, he looked around and saw that he woke up with his head at the foot of the bed and his feet on his pillow. He did that occasionally, he moved in his sleep around his bed. He’d fallen off of it a few times and had some very rude awakenings, in which he cried and woke up Grandma. He didn’t like waking her up.

He looked around for his bedside table for his glasses. They weren’t really needed; everything he saw with out them was just a little blurry, so he couldn’t see the finest details, but he also wanted them because Grandma had them, and Grandma was really all he knew of the world. To him, what she did was the cool thing.

He turned around and grabbed his glasses from his bedside table, and put them on to look for the source of the light in his eyes. He found it quickly; the light from the window had hovered over the bed. The window that was larger than his window. Why was it bigger?

Then Jake remembered. He had moved out of his cramped room. He was in his new house. He had a big room. He had a secret room behind a bookshelf that was his own bathroom. There was a nice stranger Jeff who wasn’t really a stranger anymore. Best of all, Grandma had promised more last night.

Jake jumped from the bed. There was more. If there was more than this, whatever it was would be perfect to Jake. He ran to the bookshelf to get ready for more, when he slipped on his socked feet over the polished wood floor. He fell hard, twisting his head so he wouldn’t land on his glasses. He lie there a second, and almost felt like crying again, but he remembered there was more to be discovered and crying would have to wait. He got up and ran towards the shelf.

He tore away the book, waited impatiently as the shelf slid open and slipped through the crack as it was still sliding just so he could get in there faster. Then he realized he forgot the clothes he was going to change into. He knew that Grandma Harley was probably asleep or making breakfast, and there was no one to change in front of, but he didn’t like being in the open when he changed. He ran out, grabbed his clothes from his dresser, the first two things on top, and ran back to the bathroom, slamming his little toddler hand against the button to close the shelf. He stood there until it was completely closed to change.

Once he calmed down a little after changing, Jake actually looked at what he put on. His shorts were what he normally had, cargo shorts. He only had a few pairs of shorts that weren’t cargo shorts. Then again, he didn’t have many clothes to begin with. His shirt had long sleeves that were dark green. The rest of the shirt was white, save for a dinosaur in the middle the same shade of green. He decided he liked these two together, now that he could see them together in his larger mirror, unlike the tiny one in his old house. He looked at himself for a while, short messy black hair, green eyes, and thin-rimmed oval glasses. He had asked Grandma for glasses that would barely show, he thought they were ugly, (besides on Grandma, of course) and didn’t want people noticing. He opened the shelf and took one last look of him in his new bathroom, and smiled at his reflection as he walked out.

He walked down his stairs to the door with the oval handle. It was a little dark on this landing, so Jake opened it as quickly as possible, so nothing bad would happen in the gloom, like yet another fall.

He waddled on his little toddler legs out into the white room connecting out to all the other second floor rooms. There was a window to the left of the staircase that had sunlight streaming through it, blinding Jake as it shined right on him. He held is arm up in front of his face as he walked to the stairs. He was still excited for whatever was to come, but the staircases were wood, and he knew that what happened upstairs when he ran was bound to happen again on the stairs. So he carefully made his way down.

So as soon as he touched onto the rug in the hallway at the bottom, he took off into a sprint towards the kitchen where he could smell Grandma making breakfast.

 

“Whoa, slow down there, Boris,” Grandma Harley said as she did the dishes. “You’ll make yourself sick!”

“Sorry Gamma,” Jake said. He wasn’t really that sorry though. He wanted to get to this day as fast as possible, so his breakfast of fried eggs was just another obstacle to pass. “I’m just excited.”

Grandma smiled at him. “I certainly hope so,” she said as she walked over to the counter where Jake ate. She leaned down in front of his face, their noses inches apart, and Jake could see all the tiny wrinkles on Grandma’s face. “Are you ready for an adventure?”

Jake’s eyes widened as he nodded his head vigorously, since he couldn’t answer with a mouth full of egg.

“Then let’s go!” Grandma sang as she straightened up. Jake tried to jump off the barstool quickly, but he ended up falling to the ground again as the stool landed on top of him. “Oh, honey!” Grandma exclaimed as she rushed over to his aid. Jake’s world was spinning momentarily as he let out a groan. Grandma took the stool off of him as he sat up, rubbing his head. He started crying, his head had really taken a beating in the last ten minutes or so.

“Oh, honey are you ok? Shh, please don’t cry Jake,” she murmured as he held him and kissed the top of his head. After a minute or so, Jake stopped crying because he thought the pain wasn’t really that bad and he shouldn’t cry over it.

“Do you still want to go, Jake?” Grandma asked. Jake nodded quietly. “All right, then let’s go,” she said as she helped him up. Jake quickly recovered and ran through the hallway and out the front door, Grandma chuckling behind him.

Jake ran down the concrete steps to where Grandma’s dark green car waited for them. He tried the door to the backseat, but it was locked.

“Gamma! Hurry!” Jake yelled.

“Jake! Quiet down!” Grandma said in a hushed yell as she hurried down the steps. “We have neighbors now, you could wake them up!”

Jake instantly covered his mouth with both of his hands as he looked at the other houses, hoping people wouldn’t wake up because he was impatient. Grandma unlocked the car and opened the door for him as he bounded into the car. He bounced on his seat, waiting for Grandma to get in the front.

“Did you put your seat belt on?” Grandma Harley asked as she got into the driver’s seat. 

Jake quickly buckled the belt around him. “Can I be louder now, Gamma?” Jake whispered.

Grandma chuckled, ”Yes, Jake.”

“Then yes, Gamma, I did!” he shouted. Grandma laughed again as she changed gears and drove out of their space. Jake looked out at his passing world, wondering what could be next.


	3. Sorry Guys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> School and hobbies caught up to me, and I didn't want to just randomly start up again so I'm going to put a synopsis here for anyone interested for what was going to happen.

So the "surprise" for Jake was that Grandma had bought a farm as well. It was a small farm but Jake would spend most of his teenage years with Dirk there.

Roxy and Jane were just going to be friends at the school. Jane would eventually tutor Jake, who had trouble learning. Roxy would just be the really fun one. Dirk would be Jake's best friend.

So on the way back from the farm, there was a little roadside ice cream place, really in the middle of nowhere. There was another guy who worked at the parlor with black hair (don't forget about him) So Jake would meet Dirk and big executive Dave there. Dirk would be the first person Jake took the initiative and talked to on his own.They'd become fast friends.

Then there was gonna be one chapter just summing up middle school. Not too  much. Just Jane and Roxy.

So the rest would take place during high school.

Jake would find out that the old house was on a military base, and Grandma was a big head honcho there. The box in the beginning was a back up pistol. Jade had decided to move off of the base because she thought it was a bad place to raise Jake. She still worked for the military (the secret room with NO on it was her office) and she tried to hide it from Jake because he was so against hurting others and killing and then she was keeping this from him. He went off on her and would hide at the farm for a few days because he didn't trust her anymore. (because she had killed people in the line of duty) He would eat at the ice cream place, and Dirk would visit him there while this was going on. The barista guy with black hair would convince Jake to go back, and Jake would. But he would only call her "Jade" from that point on. Not "Grandma" (Or Gamma. I never decided if he would grow out of that.

So Jake and Dirk mainly get together during high school. They would spend weeks of their summers just living on the farm together, and they would visit the parlor often. Teenage love story etc etc.

Then the parlor would close down, and it was going to be sold to make an industrial factory. Dirk would take some of his college money and buy it, because he knew how much it meant to the both of them, and went to a worse college than the one he wanted to. But he did it all for Jake.

Dave was a famous executive as aforementioned, so they were more distanced than Jake and Jade.

Jeff was going to be Jake's father figure. He was eventually going to marry the barista in the parlor (would they be called baristas?) so they were meant to mirror jake and Dirk in terms of looks. Jeff had the spiky blonde hair ( and eventually he lost the weight for the wedding so he was fit like Jake) and the parlor guy had messy black hair and would have glasses.

Jake during freshman year was convinced by Dirk that the glasses should be more shown, and hes more attractive yada yada confidence stuff.

And yeah that was about it.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah. Hi. I honestly don't know how long this will be. I don't know if I will finish it. I'm doing this on a whim, but I'm hoping I can stick with it. Just enjoy as much as you can. Thanks for reading.


End file.
